Celya AB @ Pleasance Courtyard

Celya AB’s eponymous second rodeo is a fun step into a new comedic style, with plenty of the one-liner gags she’s known for

Review by Laurie Presswood | 21 Aug 2023
  • Celya AB

Celya AB may have made a name for herself taking her cutting gaze to the British psyche, but she is not completely without mercy. She confesses that, standing outside an M8 petrol station at midnight, she realised England was doing so badly it was no longer fun to mock it.

That was nine months ago – since then she has set to mining comedy from every stand-up’s home turf herself. Second Rodeo takes us for an existentially-tinged dip into her childhood as she relives creeping on older boys, running a short grift on the local bakery, and her dad’s addiction to the claw machine. It’s a fun set filled with kooky charm.

And yet she can’t help herself – eagle-eyed analysis of British mannerisms still bursts through in some of the show's funniest moments. Why would anyone think they could conceal a crush by hiding behind a pint glass? How did an entire nation all independently learn to do this? She doesn’t know either.

AB has always pushed crowds to the limit when it comes to groan-inducing bad jokes. She’s leaning into even goofier performance this time around, sometimes playing with mime and crowd-work that purposefully don’t land.

She doesn’t always manage to take the audience with her; it feels like we’re seeing the very beginning of a journey into a new comedic style. But she’s comfortable with that, even ending the show with a reference to a lengthy physical bit from the first half that the audience didn’t quite follow. In any event, these moments are soon forgotten in a set which still houses so many of the one-liner gags AB is known for.


Celya AB: Second Rodeo, Pleasance Courtyard (Beside), until 27 Aug, 7.30pm, £11-13